Chocweek09 Archives

Wow, what a week! This week has been by far our busiest ever. We’ve gone all out to cover as many of he great Chocolate Week participants as we could, but there were many more that we simply didn’t get …

Hotel Chocolat have created a range of chocolates using cocoa from their own Rabot Estate on St. Lucia, and I have been fortunate enough to have received a box of assorted bars and pralines to sample. As mentioned in my …

This is the final ‘chapter’ in Galler’s ‘Elements’ range, and this selection reflects Earth flavours. Having experienced the flavours of the sea with Les Marines, floral flavours to reflect Air, and fiery, peppery chocolates for Fire, I was very much …

I had already been in possession of these rather lovely looking chocolates for a little while when Dom and I met Stephen Trigg, co-owner of Lauden (and a lovely bloke) at the Chocolate Unwrapped event last weekend. As you can …

Our third and final offering from Gorvett & Stone for this Chocolate Week is a little bag of broken chunks of dark chocolate with freeze dried strawberry and ground black pepper. The chocolate used here is a 70% cocoa solids …

The third in Galler’s Elements series, Les Volcaniques promises fire, smoke and passion enrobed in fine Belgian chocolate. With names like Magma and Eruption and ingredients as firey as Espelette and Sichuan Peppers I had fairly good idea of what …

Here’s something a little different – a do it yourself raw chocolate making kit. These Choc Chick kits contain just three ingredients – raw cocoa powder, ‘extra virgin’ raw Cocoa Butter, and Agave Syrup – and a handy little recipe …

Here we have the dark chocolate selection that complements the milk chocolate ‘Paris’ collection. I’m not entirely sure why Milan is dark and Paris is milk, but I am eagerly awaiting the ‘Scunthorpe’ and ‘Wokingham’ collections. They should be fun. …

These cute little things are tiny little balls of shortbread cookie coated with orange-flavoured white chocolate. Each ‘pumpkin’ is about 1cm in diameter and there’s a total of 115g in each pretty little bag. Yes, this one is another Halloween …

We have actually reviewed one of these bars before. I gave the dark chocolate with rose and chilli a very favourable review back at the start of 2008. The Chocolate Cellar are participants in Chocolate Week this year and sent …

It may be Chocolate Week, but let’s not forget that other important festival of chocolate – Halloween – is also approaching fast. With that in mind, Hotel Chocolat sent me this rather gruesome skull. (At least I think it’s just …

Here we have two varieties of truffles from Gorvett & Stone – purveyors of magnificent exploding frogs. In the square corner, we have their milk truffles with sea salt, and in the round corner, the dark chocolate house truffles. I …

When I realised that Rococo have been in the business of producing fine quality chocolate for over twenty five years I felt slightly ashamed that I hadn’t come across their products before. Fate plays strange tricks on us after all. …

Long term Chocablog readers may remember a bit of a kerfuffle involving Divine last year. In the spirit of Chocolate Week, we have decided to put the past behind us and feature some of their exciting new Fair Trade bars. …

The other day I was given the opportunity to interview Angus Thirlwell, co-founder of Hotel Chocolat. As it turned out our chat lasted about an hour and the time passed remarkably quickly. Angus is a thoroughly engaging and easygoing chap, …

Another Thornton’s block has arrived on my doorstep. Sometimes I think these things are breeding and attempting to take over the world, the range is so big. This one is a 32% Madagascan milk chocolate with hazelnut & raisin in …

Some say that Paul A. Young produces the best chocolate brownies in London. (Crikey, I sound like Jeremy Clarkson introducing the Stig!). Having thoroughly enjoyed Thornton’s Mini Brownies, I was pleasantly surprised to find one of Paul’s brownies in my …

We first encountered Chococo’s husband and wife team Andy and Claire Burnett at the Academy of Chocolate Awards, and were lucky enough to be able to snag a mall selection of their chocolates at Chocolate Unwrapped on Sunday. Chococo are …

This slender little slab was part of the goodies Dom & I were given at the Chocolate Week / Mexican Tourist Board Event. The rear appears to be sealed with wax (which it isn’t, but it’s an interesting touch). Now, …

Last year when we wrote about the future of Thorntons and spoke to their head chocolatier Keith Hurdman, we talked about how careful the company has to be when introducing new ranges that they don’t alienate their traditional customer. Since …

Having been thoroughly impressed with Galler’s ‘Les Marines‘ box of salted and seaweedy chocolates, I find myself deemed worthy of a chance to sample the entire range (including one which is only just available this month). Les Florales was Jean …

Something else we were given at the Academy of Chocolate Awards this summer – a stick of pure cocoa from Hotel Chocolat’s St. Lucian plantation. It comes with a recipe for a hot chocolate drink, but since it’s still relatively …

Yesterday, the UK Chcoablog contingent all headed down to the Chocolate Unwrapped show at London’s swanky May Fair hotel. Many Chocolate Week participants were in attendance, and despite everything being in a single function room, I still managed to spend …

One of the things I like best about this job is discovering products, manufacturers and ideas that are completely new to me. These chocolate bars from UK-based Australian-Italian chocolate maker Rocco DeAngelis are definitely new to me. For a start, …

This is my first Artisan du Chocolat bar, one of a range producd under the name ”Fusion’. As you might imagine from both the theme of the packaging and the name, this chocolate is based on the famous Mexican sauce …

A recent press release from Galler suggested cooking bananas on a barbeque using their 85% cocoa spread as a filling. I was quite taken with the whole idea, but living in a second floor flat means barbequeing is a little …

As part of our Chocolate Week celebrations, I caught up with Jennifer Earle, founder of London’s Chocolate Ecstasy Tours. Tell us about Chocolate Ecstasy Tours. What does a Tour involve? “Lots of chocolatey deliciousness! Chocolate Ecstasy Tours is about showing …

This sweet little creature from Henley-on-Thames based chocolatier Gorvett & Stone has a secret. Those green spots on his back should be a warning… bite into him, and he explodes. Literally. You see, mixed in with the smooth and creamy …

Technically, Chocolate Week starts on Monday, but we’ve got so much to tell you about that we’re starting early! If you don’t know, Chocolate Week is a celebration of all things chocolate in the UK. For the next week, we’re …

I wanted to take a moment to let you all know about Chocolate Unwrapped, a consumer chocolate show which kicks off this year’s Chocolate Week. According to their web site: “The UK’s first dedicated chocolate show, Chocolate Unwrapped will have …